When transporting bulky loads, such as cargo, boats, etc., from place to place with the aid of motor vehicles or motor vehicle drawn trailers, it is imperative to secure the load in order to prevent the load from becoming detached therefrom. In order to achieve this goal, numerous tie-down devices have been proposed. Examples of such devices, of which I am aware, are outlined as follows:
______________________________________ Inventor(s) Patent No. Date of Issue ______________________________________ Bolmes, et al. 2,825,522 03/04/58 Barker 2,978,257 04/04/61 Bhend 3,072,376 01/08/63 Tallman 3,279,759 10/18/66 Whitley, Jr. 3,827,717 08/06/74 Geeck, III 4,954,031 09/04/90. ______________________________________
Such tie-down devices are useful not only for directly securing the cargo and the like, but also for the securing covers, such as tarpaulins, over various cargo loads, such as gravel, so that the cargo load is secured by being held down.
It is also useful to utilize such devices to secure items, such as airplanes, to other types of elements, such as an airplane tarmac.
Such tie-down devices have always presented the problem of providing an arrangement by which they may be easily and gradually tensioned and detensioned during the use thereof. In order to achieve this goal, several arrangements, such as that disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,525,900 issued to Muller, et al., have been disclosed. These arrangements have uniformly required the use of separate mechanical tensioning devices and arrangements, such as cranks, that can be expensive, bulky and difficult to use. None of these devices, of which I am aware, permit the tie-down device to be manually tightened and loosened without the need for additional mechanical devices.
The tie-down devices presently available, such as cam-over devices, have also always been problemic in that they can permit a sudden release of energy to occur in the event that the device breaks or otherwise fails. Such failure is not an uncommon situation, resulting from a variety of reasons, such as stresses that can occur from overtightening of the device. Sometimes, such a sudden release of energy can occur simply by the purposeful releasing of the tension thereon, such as when one is unsecuring the cargo and the like. Other times it can result from a failure of the device, such as when a strap breaks. None of the devices of which I am aware provide fail safe or safety features to prevent such sudden releases of energy. Consequently, physical injury or property damage can result from the use of such devices.
Accordingly, it can be seen that there remains a need for a tie-down device that is useful for securing and holding down cargo and the like, such as boats and tarpaulin covers, during the transportation thereof, which device is simple and easily to use, may be adequately tensioned and untensioned by hand without the use of additional arrangements that can encourage overtightening of the device, and which provides for fail-safe arrangements, such that should the device either fail as a result of the stresses placed thereon or the tension thereon be purposefully released, the device will not experience a sudden release of energy that can result in physical injury or property damage.